Gas grills have become popular over the past few years, and for good reason. They’re convenient, they’re fast to heat, and it’s easy to control the temperature. You don’t need any advance notice to fire up the gas grill: with the flip of a dial, it’s on and ready to go. Since there is no ash involved, cleaning is as easy as brushing the grates with your favorite grill brush. The drawback? It's important to choose a good model. The success of your backyard barbecue depends on the quality of your gas grill.
With so many gas grills available on the market, it's hard to know where to start. To find the best of the best, we looked at the highest rated grills and narrowed it down to our top five choices. We ranked each grill using the following factors: Warranty, Design & Style, Heat Control & Burners, and Surface Area & Grates. Armed with this information, we came up with an Overall Score to rank each grill.
The grills below represent our recommendations from the wide variety of charcoal grills. You can get a snapshot into each grill by looking at the Overall Charcoal Grills Review Scores table. If you’re interested in learning more, we offer a more thorough analysis in the each grills' individual page.
Overall Gas Grills Review Scores
Brand | Warranty | Design & Style | Heat Control & Burners | Surface Area & Grates | Overall Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Classic Charbroil | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4.5 |
Weber | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4.5 |
Dyna Glo | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4.5 |
Coleman | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Cuisinart | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Classic Charbroil Gas Grill
I’m sure many of you will groan when I tell you this comes flat-packed. In this case it is fiddly to assemble, but not frustratingly so. It might take an hour or two, depending on if you’ve done this kind of thing before. I personally noticed some of the holes didn’t always line up, but if you leave everything a little bit loose it helps. Just tighten them all when it’s fully assembled.
I have heard some people have had problems with the Char broil propane grill rusting. I can only say be aware that the grates are porcelain coated, so don’t going scrubbing at them and taking the coating off. In the end, you get what you pay for, and this is a budget product after all. On the plus side, it does arrive complete, all you need to add is a bottle of propane. For occasional grilling and if you have somewhere out of the weather to store it, this Charbroil burner grill is fine.
This Product Is Ranked as the #1 Pitmaster’s Choice In The Gas Grills CategoryWeber Gas Grill Black
As Weber propane grills go, this is a smaller model, although the manufacturers claim there’s room for a twenty pound turkey. It comes flat-packed, as most thing do these days, but assembly is easy enough, although the instructions are just a bunch of pictures. Saves money on the old translation costs!
So, what’s this Weber natural gas grill like in use? Well, the first thing you notice is it’s not as sturdy and elegant as it looks. If you have all the parts, and if they aren’t damaged, you’ll end up with a working grill. But it’s obvious someone has taken this design and watered it down with thinner metal, cheaper parts and a lack of attention to detail and quality control. Nothing wrong with things being made in China as such, but when you take away the checks things can only go in one direction, down.
Dyna Glo Gas Grill With 3 Burners
This liquid propane gas grill is another flat-pack product, although assembly is easy enough. The instructions are on the adequate side, but nothing different about that. I found it took about an hour to put together, so not too bad. In use it’s also adequate if not spectacular, although the heat control is pretty good. The controls have a good range, not just the on/off settings of some. The heat builds up quickly, and it does go pretty high even in cold conditions. I do have a couple of concerns. The casters on the bottom allow easy movement, but only two of them lock, and they aren’t the sturdiest thing in the world. The second is the drip tray, or drip cup, which might, or might not catch the drips of grease.
Overall, I think the word I’d use most to describe this Dyna-Glo gas grill is adequate, in design, manufacture and use, it works, but is nothing special.
Coleman Gas Grill Portable
The Coleman portable gas grill looks like a ladybug with the lid closed, complete with wings. Being portable, it’s obviously designed to be easy to move around. It does this by having a stand similar to an ironing board, with wheels at one end and shallow spade shape at the other. When folded the Coleman propane grill will fit in the trunk of most cars, and it has a lock on the front to keep it closed. So it’s perfect for picnics and tailgating, as well as regular use.
You might also want to line it with kitchen foil to save you some clean up time, because it does get messy. Otherwise I like the Coleman propane portable grill. The design looks great, very individual. The function is also good, with the above warnings. Just remember it’s a portable gas grill, not a backyard grilled meat factory, and you’ll be fine.
Cuisinart Tabletop Gas Grill
Although it’s not completely assembled when it arrives, the Cuisinart propane gas grill just needs the legs attaching, which is easy enough. Four screws and you’re done. Being a tabletop gas grill, you’re going to want to stand it on a solid surface, plastic picnic tables are not recommended. It doesn’t have to be a table of course, and wood is fine, the legs don’t get hot at all. If you prefer, there’s an optional stand, which also holds a 20lb gas cylinder. You’ll also need to buy a long hose, if you use the larger bottles with or without the stand. The stand folds up quite small, so you can take it with you. This model of liquid gas grill weighs about 35 pounds, which isn’t light but is manageable by most people. It’s certainly easy enough to put the grill, the gas bottle and the stand in the trunk and head off out.
